The project signifies that the Bay Area's building boom has come to Newark, and city leaders say they expect it stay for a while. Several projects are planned, including 550 homes approved for the Dumbarton transit-oriented development on the city's western edge.

"This is the first of a number of projects adding high-quality housing in Newark," said Assistant City Manager Terrence Grindall. "We're looking forward to it energizing our community."

"We want to develop ... in major job centers," he said. "Newark's proximity to Silicon Valley is highly attractive to us."

The detached single-family homes on small lots, which in the Bay Area average nearly $1 million, will start at around $750,000, Kliewer said. The townhouses will list for about $550,000, he said.

None of the development's 164 units are designated for affordable housing, city leaders said.

Newark allows developers to choose whether to include affordable housing or pay a fee of $25,000 per unit and, "almost universally, they choose the fee," Grindall said.

Newark will use Trumark's $4.1 million fee to acquire land for affordable housing, he said.

The new development will give the city tax revenue and a needed infusion of fresh housing stock, said City Manager John Becker.

"Most of Newark's homes were built between the 1950s and the '70s," he said. "New homes generate property tax revenue and new residents that shop in your city. These types of housing projects are absolutely critical for the future of Newark."